#1 – Dominion Day – 1 July 2017
It begins with self-doubt. My sometimes friend and mostly foe for 60 years. After a long absence, I wanted to return to photography. I have taken pictures in the meanwhile; I own a phone. But not purposefully, not mindfully, not to matter. As I plan for this, self-doubt pollutes the project. “This won’t work; the photos will wilt, I will disappoint myself, others will laugh.” How to battle this old foe? I commit to posting an image a day for a year, in public, on Instagram. This is the first. Happy Canada Day. They used to call it Dominion Day.
#2 – Forest Graffiti – 2 July 2017
It turns out that the technicalities of getting back into photography are easy enough: replace film camera with digital body; dig beloved lenses out from hibernation to focus today’s light to the new digital sensor; replace darkroom with amazing (didn’t know — have been hiding under rocks, apparently) photo editing software; let daughter create Instagram account. Digital tools are trying hard to mimic yesterday’s analog feel, so the starting points are familiar to an old guy like me.
#3 – Quick Silver – 3 July 2017
The first couple of days making photos are giddy. When focused on it (little cute pun), the making of images is the making of magic. This is an inspiring and sustaining sensation whilst fumbling around and getting frustrated by mistakes and learning curves. Reviewing the first images I posted, I see that I have stayed literally close to the ground. I think this is just to bracket things down, to avoid overload and chaos, to try to control the scene, while I find some photographic and personal bearings. Literally, crawling before standing up.
#4 – Sharp Beak – 4 July 2017
In the beginning, I am not straying from home.The first four posts were all made in a ravine up the road, within the city (Toronto). Seeking out new or exotic places is not my goal. I think I am returning to photography in order to try to see the new within the familiar. There are three consecutive windows through which to reveal each image: seeing potential through the naked eye, capturing an image of it through the viewfinder and the shutter release; and then remaking it again on the editing screen. Amazing how hard it can be to line those up in advance so you sense what might tumble out at the end. But then that too is part of the magic.
#5 – The Sea is Green – 5 July 2017
Hiding can be a game. On one hand the objective is concealment. But at the same time the objective is to reveal oneself. It’s the double back that creates allure. Hiding is a means of making the ordinary noteworthy, the plain expressive. We all need a little of that, from time to time. Like this leaf, I am both hiding behind and peeking out through my new camera and the commitment to post an image every day.
#6 – Pacific Frontier – 6 July 2017
This early one is different in three regards. First, I am proud to demonstrate to you that I can take photos of things further than a meter away. Second, it feels to me like a painting and that’s rewarding because I have lifelong regret that I cannot draw to save myself. Third, it was taken with my iphone. Lots is written on the fact that smartphones have become serious cameras. I prefer to say that smartphones are cameras that deserve to be taken seriously. Oh and yes, I’m suddenly no longer near home – out to Vancouver Island on Canada’s farthest-west coast for a wedding. A new and exotic place just like I said I wasn’t seeking out. Caught.
#7 – Ebb and Flow – 7 July 2017
Tofino (Vancouver Island) is a paradise for image makers. There is no excuse to make only middling photos here. But I have also made the commitment to post an image a day no matter what. After my initial euphoria, here at the end of week one, comes the realization that on some days I’m going to have to post things that aren’t super-dazzlers because they are all I have “in stock”. But also, I can make those experiences part of the learning journey in a way that squirreling the images away in the computer would not allow. A post a day is a stern master.
# 8 – Shelf with a few things on it – 8 July 2017
I am trying to remember the importance of elemental shapes and minimalism. It turns out I am going to struggle with this through the entire year. I admire minimalism, but I generally fail to reduce with satisfaction. So what is distracting me? If I was prone to crazy analogies, I’d say this is all a sweeping metaphor for finding simplicity in life. What is also crazy is that after 60 years on the planet these quests can still feel overwealming, and their occasional attainment still delightfully fresh.
#9 – Sand is Water – 9 July 2017
Anything you like about the next three pictures is about the specialness of the place in which they were taken, and not about what I have brought to the table. Whether high tide or low, whether water or sand, there is a continuous motion on the Tofino beach. It almost doesn’t matter where you point your camera. That’s what makes it a challenging learning experience.
#10 – Bluestone – 10 July 2017
The bluestone. Is it fake geo-jewelry or is it a real thing? Does it matter, in a world of fantasy and imagining? Have I cheated by taking a mostly grey image and disguising it in the computer later on? Is one allowed to do that? I certainly think so. There are no right answers here, there is just what seems to work (for me, not anyone else but hopefully someone else. complicated) and what does not. This image makes me think of my daughters, as if it were a jewel that I would offer them.
#11 – GLIMPSE – 11 July 2017
This is another smart-phone painting. I imagine that 400 years ago, all across North America, this is how one approached all of the great waters, fresh and salt. Picking one’s way through the untouched forest, catching a surprise first glimpse of the open sea, and then stumbling down to the edge of its undulating infinity. Most of that we have done away with by now, but with a camera you can recreate it almost anywhere.
#12 – the Warren – 12 July 2017
Once, 40 years ago, I entered a photograph in a camera club competition. At the post-judgement exhibition, I found my photo in a corner on the floor, propped against the wall. You get the picture. I am told one should learn from one’s failures, and I did. That experience was not fun, and I’ll never enter a competition again. Critique is good, but judgement – well that is something I do to myself enough to need no more.
#13 – The Burrow – 13 July 2017
One of the causes I assigned to my camera club competition failure was that my picture lacked contrast. Mine was a late autumn, late in the day, barren field, black and white, and I was trying to print it to capture the grey shaded softness of that moment. All the winning photographs were very contrasty, hence my conclusion. (I didn’t ask for corroboration, I just left, so this could be an entirely made up conclusion that I have carried around for 40 years). I have struggled ever since with and also against a propensity to create high contrast. Compare this photograph to the preceding one. I should just enjoy them both for what they bring.
#14 – Little moon big moon – 14 July 2017
I’d like to get good at night photography this time round. I like the mystery of it. I like the camera’s ability to suck all of the available light into itself, if I give it enough time, and reveal the night in ways cannot seen with the naked eye. I find nothing particularly admirable about this photograph, in terms of whatever I might have value-added to the scene. But I made it, and it more or less worked, and the unplanned bonus is that my camera manufactured a second little moon low on the horizon and that’s good enough for me.
#15 – Typical Canadian Parking Garage – 15 July 2017
I avoid taking photographs of people, but I make exceptions as you can see in this image. This is about as close on as I like to get to photographing a somebody. While I was taking this picture a woman who had just parked (racked?) her canoe and thought she was in my image came up to me and demanded money. “You must pay for me,” she said. “I’m not paying for you,” I answered, all the while trying to drag my tripod and myself away as quickly as possible. Ridiculous conversation. People can be Trixie! I avoid taking photogrphs of people.
